Federation of Hellenic Enterprises criticises new tax law

Wage-earners and pensioners account for 76 pct of total income of individuals, while self-employed account for 4.0 pct, the Federation of Hellenic Enterprises announced on Tuesday.

Δημοσίευση 6 Απριλίου 2011, 08:09 / Ανανεώθηκε 27 Ιουνίου 2013, 14:44

Wage-earners and pensioners account for 76 pct of total income of individuals, while self-employed account for 4.0 pct, the Federation of Hellenic Enterprises announced on Tuesday.

In an announcement to the press, the federation criticised the government for its provisions in new tax legislation.

The federation said that 55 pct of Greek households reported incomes below the tax-free level paying no taxes, another 15 pct of taxpayers paid around 80 pct of total income taxes of individuals, while 1,660 enterprises in a total of 221,000 enterprises in the country paid around 70 pct of corporate taxes.

Dimitris Daskalopoulos, president of the federation, presenting the federation’s views on new tax legislation to a general assembly, stressed provisions included in a new tax law were in great distance from pledges made by the government and lagged behind efforts to modernize the tax system and becoming competitive with European Union standards.

“The efficiency of a tax system depends on its stability, its simplicity, the clarity of its goals and its objectivity. The tax regime in Greece does not satisfy any of these globally basic accepted criteria. These observations cover the latest tax bill ratified in Parliament. It is the 10th revision of our tax system in a period of 18 months,” Daskalopoulos said.

The Federation noted that corporate taxes were raising hurdles in growth putting Greek groups’ subsidiaries to a disadvantage against foreign groups’ subsidiaries. It also stressed that strict sanctions could not efficiently combat tax evasion, but often was leading to power abuse and illegal transactions.